HLnovel Chapter 159 Holy Father, Prepare to Die (8)
Chapter 159 Holy Father, Prepare to Die (8)
Xia Mingwei broke the unspoken barrier between the original owner and Li Shi, presenting the truth directly to Li Shi.
Li Shi felt extremely embarrassed and retorted, "No matter what, it's still a way to make money. You shouldn't have quit your job so unilaterally!"
After saying this, Li Shi frowned. "Luckily, I know the manager of that household. I'll have a good talk with him tomorrow. At worst, I'll apologize and give him some gifts. I'll have him put in a good word with the manager's wife and get you to continue working!"
Xia Mingwei never expected that even after she resigned from this job, Li Shi would still try to find someone to help her continue working there!
It wasn't that the job was particularly difficult, but rather that Li Shi couldn't bear to part with the money! Without Xia Mingwei's money, he would have to rely on a lot more for his charitable work in the future!
Xia Mingwei was so angry at Li Shi's shamelessness that she almost laughed. She walked up to Li Shi and calmly laid out the back of her hand in front of him.
“Li Shi, look at my hands! They used to be smooth and delicate, but ever since I started doing laundry, they’ve become a mess! They’ve become rough and covered in calluses! In the dead of winter, to earn that little bit of money, I had to soak my hands in that icy water. Even now, every winter, my hands get chilblains, and they burn with pain when they flare up! Li Shi, do you really not know these things, or are you pretending not to know?”
Xia Mingwei calmly recounted the events, but her eyes were fixed on Li Shi, not wanting to miss a single expression on his face.
Xia Mingwei's calm words struck a far greater chord than any loud, accusatory outburst. Looking into those eyes, Li Shi felt a deep sense of guilt and looked away.
Seeing Li Shi's appearance, Xia Mingwei did not stop her output.
She scoffed and said sarcastically, "Even now, you probably still think that Widow Zhou, who sheds a few tears in front of you, is more pitiful! All the suffering I've endured is just my bad luck, and I deserve to suffer it!"
Li Shi fell silent, unsure how to respond to Xia Mingwei's words. In his mind, Widow Zhou was an outsider; helping her would earn him a good reputation. These were two different things; how could they be compared?
"What about the money I promised Widow Zhou? I already promised her, I can't go back on my word!"
Xia Mingwei said nonchalantly, "So what if you broke your promise? Did I force you to make that promise to Widow Zhou? Since you did these things yourself, you should figure out how to resolve them yourself!"
Li Shi kept his head down in silence, but suddenly, as he glanced at the dining table out of the corner of his eye, he thought of something.
Since Xia Mingwei has already quit her job and I haven't given her any money for expenses, what's the deal with these meals?
"Where did you get this food?"
At this point, Li Shi was mostly convinced. In his opinion, Xia Mingwei was definitely not telling the truth! It was true she had quit her job, but she must have gotten the money for expenses from somewhere else. Otherwise, how could he explain these seemingly expensive meals?
"I earned it myself, what's your problem with that?"
"How could a woman like you possibly know how to make money?"
As Li Shi said this, he couldn't hide the contempt in his eyes, as if Xia Mingwei had done something she shouldn't have done!
His expression naturally did not escape Xia Mingwei's eyes. To dispel his doubts, Xia Mingwei said proudly, "A while ago, I was starving and went to the back mountain to dig for wild vegetables. I happened to find a ginseng! I took it to the pharmacy to sell and got some silver!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shi's eyes practically popped out of his head. He wasn't unfamiliar with the plant "ginseng." Someone in the neighboring village had once dug it up, and their family went from a drafty mud hut to a large brick house with tiles.
For a time, he became the envy of many villagers. They all admired his luck and tried to imitate him. However, after searching almost the entire back mountain, they couldn't find a second ginseng. Seeing this, they could only sigh with envy at that man's good fortune.
Now that he heard that Xia Mingwei had dug up ginseng, how could he not be excited? Regardless of the age of the ginseng, just the word "ginseng" alone tells him that it will definitely sell for no less than ten taels of silver.
If the ginseng is old and of good quality, it's not impossible for it to sell for hundreds of taels of silver! Thinking of this, Li Shi felt even more excited.
He even put aside his urgent matter of delivering money to Widow Zhou and anxiously asked, "How much did you get for it?"
Xia Mingwei replied dismissively, "Not much, just over a hundred taels!"
Seeing Xia Mingwei's nonchalant attitude, Li Shi couldn't help but feel jealous. Look at how she talks about it—over a hundred taels! That's more than many farmers couldn't earn in a lifetime, and she just casually brushed it off! Heaven is so unfair; why didn't I find it myself?
If he had found the ginseng himself, he promised he wouldn't keep it to himself and would spend the money he earned on something more meaningful.
To avoid falling into a vicious cycle of resentment, Li Shi could only console himself. Then, he suddenly thought that Xia Mingwei finding ginseng wasn't so bad! After all, they were family; wasn't her money his? Using that money to do good deeds would be perfect!
Thinking of this, Li Shi spoke again.
"Since you've made over a hundred taels of silver from selling ginseng, give me a little bit! It's not much, just five taels of silver!"
Listening to Li Shi's self-righteous words, Xia Mingwei was practically setting a new low for her life. In this day and age, a family might not earn more than a few taels of silver a year. Five taels of silver could buy more than ten acres of good paddy fields for a farming family!
Li Shi's first request was for her to give him five taels of silver to spend. What a shameless person!
"What are you dreaming about in broad daylight! I will absolutely not give you the money, so just forget about it!"
"If you won't give it to me, can I borrow some?"
Seeing that he couldn't get any money from Xia Mingwei, Li Shi decisively chose to change his strategy.
Xia Ming looked at Li Shi with a smile, her eyes full of mockery. "Lend it to you? Five taels of silver isn't a large sum for me now, but the question is, if I lend it to you, can you repay it?"
"I own a butcher shop, how could I not pay you back? I just need to save up for a few more months, and I can pay you back!"
Hearing Li Shi's boast, Xia Mingwei finally couldn't contain her temper and retorted sarcastically, "Wow, that's impressive! Then tell me, how much have you saved this year?"